October 18th Oedipus Rex Quote Response

"Light of my days, go dark . . I want to gaze no more" (Sophocles 67).

At the point of the play when Oedipus states this, he has come to the sudden realization of his true identity and all to exact fulfillment of his life's prophecy. Despite the fact that the audience has known throughout the majority of the play who Oedipus' real family is, and who Lauis' murderer was, it has taken Oedipus until this pivotal moment in the text. He now sees the error of his ways, if only he had listened, if only he had known, he would not be here hurting the ones he so loved. Also, this line plays off the dark versus light, blind versus seeing theme. Oedipus who was once blind to the situation at hand is now seeing exactly what it all means. However, he does not like this, so he wishes to see this no more.